Abstract
Abstract School deficit is considered a risk factor for the development of antisocial behavior. This study assessed the efficacy of individual program on academic skills for adolescents admitted to juvenile detention. The sample consisted of 18 adolescents, nine who received the intervention (experimental group) and nine in the control group. The schooling activities were developed in a range of 12 to 18 weeks with two to four hours per week and efficacy was measured by School Performance Test (SPT) that evaluates writing, reading and arithmetics. The results of the comparison between pretest and post-test showed a statistically significant increase in the experimental group's math skills (Z = -2.673, p = .008) and overall score (Z = -2.549, p = .012). Calculated via the STP the average educational lag at the time of the pretest was 8.3 years for the experimental group and 8.9 years for the control group. Subsequent to the intervention, the average lag dropped to 7.3 years for the experimental group and remained to 8.6 years for the control group. This intervention proved to be a promising technique to reduce academic deficits in adolescents from juvenile detention.
Highlights
School deficit is considered a risk factor for the development of antisocial behavior
The ECA refers to juvenile offenders as “adolescents that are in conflict with the law,” and their unlawful acts are called “offenses,” not “crimes.” In Brazil, such socioeducational measures are based on the doctrine of full protection
Subsequent to the initial assessment, the experimental group alone participated in the intervention involving one or two two-hour learning support sessions per week, with emphasis on writing, math and reading
Summary
The study enjoyed the participation of 18 male adolescents residing in a juvenile correctional facility. The experimental group’s participants, among those who were available, were included because they exhibited considerable academic deficiency, with difficulties in reading and writing. They were given an educational program concurrently with the schooling program provided by the Center for Social Education – CSE. The instrument measures each participant’s schooling level in terms of his basic academic skills It involves the following tasks: (a) reading individual words; (b) writing dictated words, featuring dictation both of the words themselves and of sentences included for the purpose of context identification; and (c) performing mathematical calculations, solving both verbally stated and written math problems (Knijnik, Giacomoni, & Stein, 2013). By way of the instrument, we were able to identify which developmental areas were deficient or satisfactory for each adolescent and assess his/ her post-intervention progress
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